Never Again
by cantankerousChronologist
Summary: An age-old struggle draws to a close.


Ganondorf smiled to himself as he reclined in his throne. He was wearing golden armor, with black trim. A small, golden crown adorned his fiery red hair. He sat with one leg over the other, lazily holding a golden goblet of wine in his hand. His greatsword leaned against the throne's right arm, in a black scabbard with black filigree. Princess Zelda sat on the floor to his left, heavy chains binding her to the throne. To his right stood the old Hyrulian King, dressed in the garb of a serving boy. Four Darknuts stood beside him, two next to each of the ex-Royals, their sword tips to the ground, hands resting on the pommels. Moblins were strewn about the immense throne room, some sparring, some playing cards.

Ganondorf let out a soft chuckle. "This throne is so _comfortable_." He leaned close to Zelda. "I can see how your father got so fat; I don't know if I could be bothered to move from this thing."

Zelda pulled as far away from him as she could. "You won't keep this long. Link's coming! He'll stop you, just as his ancestors have done for ages past!"

Ganondorf sneered at her. "Still they call him Link? So many thousands of years have come and gone, and still they remember that first bastard who came to stop me. But it is no matter. This Link is not the warrior his ancestors were. His ancestors had the goddesses on their side; he has naught but an ancient sword. He is no Hero of Time or Hero of Winds. He _was_ an ordinary farmboy."

"Was?"

Ganondorf smiled again. "He's dead, I assure you. Threw him from atop the ramparts in front of my castle myself."

"_My_ castle," Zelda snarled.

"Mine now."

At that, the immense doors at the front of the room burst open, and a moblin's head rolled in. In the doorway stood Link, his tunic and leggings torn, open wounds bleeding all over his body. A deep gash ran diagonally across his face, and his hair was matted with sweat and blood. In his right hand was a Hylian Shield, in his left the Master Sword, fresh blood dripping from it's blade. There was hate in his blue eyes as he stared at Ganondorf. The moblins and Darknuts both rushed towards him, but he was too quick. A moblin swung its spear at his head, but Link ducked and ran it through with his sword, and kicked it off. The moblin flew back and was impaled upon another's spear. As link drew back from his kick, he whirled around and beheaded another moblin before it had a chance to strike, and blocked a blow from a Darknut. Another Darknut swung from behind him, but Link sidestepped the blow as its sword struck the helmet of the Darknut Link had just blocked. The first Darknut staggered dizzily as the second whirled around for another blow. Link sidestepped that, too, as the third and fourth Darknut approached. The four Darknuts now surrounded him in a circle. Link rushed at the first Darknut, jumped, and kicked off it, to land on the third Darknut's shoulders, plunging his blade into the monster's exposed shoulder. He flipped off it as the second Darknut swung at him again, but Link blocked with his shield, dropped, and rolled behind it, jumping up and slashing at the same time, breaking the armor off as he did so. As he landed, he stabbed the Darknut through the heart from the back, and as he pulled his sword from the monster, the first and third Darknuts stabbed at him from either side. He ducked, and they wound up stabbing through each others' armors, killing themselves. He whirled about and strode purposefully toward Ganondorf.

Ganondorf swore as he tossed his goblet aside, stood up, and grabbed his sword in one deft motion. He unsheathed the greatsword and tossed the scabbard aside, and blocked just as Link swung at him. He pushed forward to unbalance Link, and then swung the sword downward, but Link regained his balance in time to block that with his shield as he thrust the Master Sword forward. Ganondorf barely managed to step back in time to avoid the stab. Ganondorf made a fist and threw it forward, sending out a ball of evil energy. Link slashed at the ball, sending it back at Ganondorf, who retaliated in kind. Again and again they tossed it back and forth, until Ganondorf was just a fraction of a second too slow. The magic coursed through his body, and his muscles tensed and relaxed and tensed again in quick succession. He arched his back, screaming, as he lost his grip on his sword. As the magical energy faded from his body, he dropped to his knees exhausted. Link saw his chance as he rushed forward, plunging the blade through Ganondorf's skull all the way to the hilt. Ganondorf fell onto his back, screaming inhuman screams, as his body began to convulse. The Master sword began glowing, and Ganondorf felt the magics in the blade destroying him. He clenched his right fist and focused everything on it as a Triforce glowed on its back. The top and bottom right triangles glowed dimly, but the bottom left triangle gave a brilliant glow of golden light. There was a blinding flash of light as the Master Sword was forcefully flung from the Gerudo. It flew through the air and lodged itself in the far wall, all the way to the hilt once more. There was one more flash of blinding light, and in Ganondorf's place was an extremely large black boar, with a mane of fiery red hair. It stood up, and a large sword and trident materialized in his hands. Ganon let out a loud bellow to let his adversary know his time was up.

Link sprinted toward the Master Sword and pulled with all his might, but the sword wouldn't budge. He pulled and pulled as Ganon stood watching, his mighty head brushing the ceiling of the throne room. Link watched in fear as Ganon pulled back the trident, ready to stab. He bellowed once more as he thrust it forward, and it ran Link through the stomach. He screamed in pain as it pinned him to the wall. The force of the trident hitting the wall broke it, releasing the Master Sword from it's prison. Ganon pulled the trident out of Link, making him scream once more as he fell to his knees.

But Link wasn't done yet; he couldn't die here. He made a promise. He made many promises. Promises spoken and unspoken. He'd made oaths he would not break. But most of all, he'd promised himself. He reached out and grabbed the Blade of Evil's Bane, clutching it tight in his left hand. He struggled to rise to his feet, blood pouring from his newest wound. But he managed to stand, though he wobbled uncertainly with each breath. He manged to look up at Ganon and spit out a curse, and he ran as fast as he could toward him. He clutched the Blade's hilt with both hands as he ran unsteadily toward his adversary. Ganon swung his mighty sword at Link, but Link managed to jump onto the blade. It was just wide enough for him to stand on, and as he landed his legs threatened to give out. But he wouldn't let them. He ran up the blade, and Ganon tried to shake him off. He used the momentum from the shaking blade to jump once more, and plunged his sword into Ganon's belly. Ganon screamed, angry and pained, arching his back, which was just what Link needed. Link planted his feet on Ganon's now sloped stomach, and ran toward his head, keeping the blade stuck inside of his adversary the whole time. It ripped a glowing trail behind him. Ganon flung his body forward to stop Link, and he went flying.

Link's body hit the floor and bounced and rolled, the Master Sword landing by his side. He tried to move, desperately, but his strength was failing him. He tried to reach out to grab the Master Sword once more, but his arm wouldn't respond. He coughed and tasted blood, and he tried fruitlessly to lift his head to look at Ganon. His vision began to blur as he saw the great beast fall to its knees, thick black blood oozing from its glowing wound. Ganon shrunk, and somehow became Ganondorf once more, bleeding red and more heavily now. He lifted himself to his feet and stumbled toward Link, but fell on his stomach mere inches in front of him. Link could barely make out the King of Evil through the blurring of his vision, but his face looked pained. Link tried to speak, but found he didn't even have the strength left for that.

"Again," Ganondorf rasped, "again you best me. I've killed you and _still_ you best me."

Link saw a pink dress and broken chains fill his vision. He thought Zelda's chains must have broken in the struggle.

"I will see your reign of terror ended now. No one will ever have to suffer by you again. You will destroy no more lives, take no more loves. You will never hurt us again."

She drove the Master Sword into Ganondorf's neck, and the Evil King went silent.

"Never again."


End file.
